English: A growth mindset embraces challenges.

Slideshow: From Mindset: The Psychology of Learning and Achievement by Emily Magruder.

A growth mindset embraces challenges.

(image is from cheezburger)

Here is the specific slide that inspired this item:

English: Let the stress energize you.

This cat was inspired by a useful article about stress: How Harnessing the Positive Side of Stress Can Change Student Mindsets by Katrina Schwartz.

Let the stress energize you.

Quote from the article; "McGonigal" is Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University.

McGonigal defines stress as “what arises in your body, in your brain and in your community when something you care about is at stake.” She acknowledges that stress can make some people feel paralyzed and might lead them to underperform. She calls that reaction a “threat response” to stress, but says if educators can help students to have a “challenge response” to stress, which includes the realization that they have the resources to handle the situation, the stress can actually energize students to do better.
This more positive approach doesn’t negate the very real effects on the brain from constant high levels of stress. McGonigal is clear that the first priority in any situation is to relieve suffering. She says it’s useful to help students learn tactics to calm down in the moment, like mindfulness or other cortisol-reduction exercises, but those strategies aren’t enough on their own. Life is stressful in big and small ways; rather than trying to erase stress from life, it may be beneficial to approach inevitable stress more positively.
“There is almost no relationship between the amount of stress you are under and your stress mindset,” said McGonigal. Learning tactics to change one’s outlook on stress can be beneficial for anyone. “How you think about stress seems to influence how you cope with stress,” she said.

(image is from cheezburger)

English: Effort makes the difference.

This cat is inspired by a slide in this presentation: Mindset: The Psychology of Learning and Achievement by Emily Magruder.

Effort makes the difference.

(cheezburger)

English. I haven't got it . . . yet.

This growth cat is inspired by the contents of this slideshow: From Mindset: The Psychology of Learning and Achievement by Emily Magruder.

I haven't got it . . . yet.

(cheezburger)

English. I rule an imagined world of my own.

This long quote is very much worth reading; it is from a review in BrainPickings of a book by Janna Malamud Smith: An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen Make Their Way to Mastery.

The quote is about gardens and the metaphorical "garden" that is the space for growth and creativity in our own lives:

The good life is lived best by those with gardens — a truth that was already a gnarled old vine in ancient Rome, but a sturdy one that still bears fruit. I don’t mean one must garden qua garden… I mean rather the moral equivalent of a garden — the virtual garden. I posit that life is better when you possess a sustaining practice that holds your desire, demands your attention, and requires effort; a plot of ground that gratifies the wish to labor and create — and, by so doing, to rule over an imagined world of your own.

That last line is what inspired today's growth cat:

I rule an imagined world of my own.

(cheezburger)

English: Detect new opportunities.

Detect new opportunities.

In the Twitter stream this morning, I found this chart contrasting the growth mindset and fixed mindset:

I made the cat with this cheezburger image.

English. Got an idea? Write it down.

Today's cat was inspired by the "Stay Creative" infographic below. The image is from cheezburger. Here are some more Stay-Creative Cats.

Got an idea? Write it down.

This great graphic is designed by Islam Abudaoud. You can see the full-size infographic here, and it's also been made into a Vimeo video!

English. Stay creative: take a break!

Today's cat was inspired by the "Stay Creative" infographic below. The image is from cheezburger. Here are some more Stay-Creative Cats.

Stay creative: take a break!

This great graphic is designed by Islam Abudaoud. You can see the full-size infographic here, and it's also been made into a Vimeo video!